Professor of Politics and International Affairs Henry Nau has worked with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Ronald Reagan
but says he’d rather be in a classroom.

By Julia Parmley

As a lieutenant in the
82nd Airborne Division
of the U.S. Army
in Fort Bragg, N.C., in the
mid-1960s, Henry Nau had
limited down time. But with
the free moments he had, Dr.
Nau lost himself in historical
books and discovered a love
for “the broader aspects” of
world history and economics. Although he had earned a
Bachelor of Science degree at
the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Dr. Nau knew he
had to pursue his newfound
passion for the social sciences.
The realization led him to a
career in national and international
politics, economics,
and science that has spanned
more than 40 years.

Dr. Nau, GW professor
of politics and international
affairs, came to the University
in 1973 as an assistant professor
in the former School of Public and International Affairs. He
served on the University commission that established GW’s Elliott
School of International Affairs and became the school’s first associate
dean from 1988 to 1993, developing curriculum, recruiting
students and growing faculty. “When I started at the Elliott School, we had one dean,
one associate dean, and two professional staff members,” says
Dr. Nau. “Now every time I walk
into 1957 E Street I can appreciate
how far the school has come. It
has succeeded beyond what
anyone imagined.”

Dr. Nau’s leadership continues
at the school. At GW’s Sigur Center
for Asian Studies, he directs the
U.S.-Japan-South Korea Legislative
Exchange Program, which brings together legislators from the
three countries for policy discussions. He has taught a wide variety
of classes that reflect his research interests, including
introduction to international affairs, U.S. foreign policy, international
political economy, and theories of international politics.Dr. Nau also has published eight books, including an introductory
textbook on international affairs, and authored myriad articles
and book chapters on topics ranging from identity and power
in U.S. foreign policy to the effect of technology on national
and international power.

His current research focuses on different theoretical perspectives
on foreign policy and the ways in which they have played
out in policy debates. “There are traditional classifications of
political thought such as liberals and realists, but I am looking
at more subtle distinctions,” he says. “For example, former
President George Bush was an ardent advocate of spreading
democracy, especially in the Middle East, a traditional liberal
position, while President Obama seems more interested in
achieving security and withdrawing American forces rather
than promoting democracy, a traditional realist position. Yet
Bush is considered a realist and Obama a liberal. One has to
dig deeper to understand these differences.”

After he received a master’s degree in 1967 and doctorate in
1973 from John Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies, Dr. Nau began his teaching career as an assistant
professor of political science at Williams College. He has been
a fellow at the Smithsonian Institution’s Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars and at Johns Hopkins University’s
Foreign Policy Institute, a visiting scholar at the University of
Miami’s Law and Economics Center, and a visiting professor
at Columbia University and Stanford University.

Dr. Nau’s research interests have also led him into government.
In the mid-1970s, he was awarded an international affairs fellowship
from the Council on Foreign Relations and served as a
special assistant to the undersecretary for economic affairs in
the U.S. Department of State. In 1976, he worked directly with
former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to develop technology
programs for developing countries. “It was an interesting time,
because the 1970s represented the
coming of age of science and technology
as a component of foreign
affairs and U.S. politics, and I
was there when it happened,”
says Dr. Nau.

Dr. Nau’s next foray into
government came from 1981 to
1983 as a senior staff member
of the National Security Council, director of the Division for
International Economic Affairs, and personal representative for
the White House at presidential economic summits. “I helped
President Reagan prepare for G-7 economic summits and other
foreign meetings dealing with international trade, currency
issues, and foreign aid,” says Dr. Nau. “The whole experience
broadened my knowledge of American foreign policy and influenced
my subsequent scholarship which turned from technological to economic issues. Working with President Reagan was
unforgettable, but in the end I knew I had to return to the
academic world and a more contemplative life.”

Despite his teaching and research responsibilities, Dr. Nau
carves out time to pursue his hobbies. He enjoys watching and
playing sports and walking along the Potomac River with his
wife, Marion, a chemist at the National Institutes of Health, near
their home in Potomac, Md. They are avid horse racing fans and
visit the racetrack in Del Mar, Calif., every summer. “We rent a
condo on the hillside across from the race track and sit in the
beautiful weather to watch the races,” says Dr. Nau. “It’s a great
way to while away an afternoon and lose $20.”

From his studies in the natural and social sciences, Dr.
Nau has become interested in the question of “how we know
something.” He says he encourages his students to understand
certain concepts and facts but cautions against calling them “absolute truths.”

“In the social sciences, unlike the natural sciences, we are part
of what we study, so it can be hard to stay objective about what we see and evaluate in the world,” he says. “We should always test
the relationship between theory and fact and find out if there
is evidence that is consistent with our theory. But we can never
really know if our theory or idea is actually the way the world
is. There may be other ideas that fit the same facts just as well.”